appointments - quickdiw sarkarijobalerts.com...2020/02/03 · 6. atul kumar gupta has been...

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Appointments

1. Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra Trust elected Mahant Nritya Gopal Das as

its Chairman and vice-president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Champat Rai

elected as General Secretary.

Also, Former principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi Nripendra

Misra has been chosen as the chairman of the Ram Temple Complex

Development Committee

2. Debasish Panda has been appointed as new finance secretary of India, replacing

Rajiv Kumar.

3. Rajiv Bansal is appointed as CMD of Disinvestment bound ailing airline Air India. 4.

UK Govt appointed Indian.

4. Origin person Alok Sharma as minister in charge for UN climate talks in November

2020, known as COP26.

5. Albin Kurti is appointed as new Prime Minister of Republic of Kosovo (Southeast

Europe).

6. Atul Kumar Gupta has been appointed as President of Institute of Chartered

Accountants (ICAI) for 2020-21, with Nihar Niranjan Jambusaria as Vice President.

7. Bhaskar Khulbe & Amarjeet Sinha have been appointed as Advisor to Prime

Minister.

8. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed new members for its 3-

member Cricket Advisory Committee(CAC). New Members are Madan Lal, Rudra

Pratap Singh and Sulakshana Naik. Kapil Dev had recently resigned as CAC

Chairman.

9. Credit information bureau TransUnion Cibil appointed Rajesh Kumar as its new

MD and CEO.

10. Former Indian Cricketer Robin Singh appointed as director of cricket of United

Arab Emirates.

11. Govt. appointed Sanjay Kothari as new Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and

Bimal Julka as New Chief Information Commissioner (CIC).

12. Incumbent Ashraf Ghani is named winner of Afghanistan Presidential Elections

2019. Voting took place almost five months ago, in September 2019. It is 2nd term

for Ashraf Ghani as Afghanistan President.


13. Indian-origin Rishi Sunak named as new Finance Minister of United Kingdom

(Chancellor of the Exchequer ). He is son-inlaw of Infosys co-founder Narayana

Murthy.

14. Misc. Appointments (Feb 2020) –

Yogesh Kumar Joshi appointed as Army's General Officer-Commanding-in-

Chief (GOC-in-C) of Northern Command.

Pramod Agrawal is appointed as chairman and managing director of PSU Coal

India.

Gopal Baglay appointed as New Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.

Ajay Bisaria is appointed as new Indian High Commissioner to Canada.

Ryan Roslansky will be new CEO of Professional Network Linkedin. Former

CEO Jeff Weiner is appointed as Executive Chairman.

Sanjay Vatsayan appointed as commander of Eastern Fleet of Indian Navy.

Suraj Berry appointed as Chief of Staff of triservices Andaman and Nicobar

Command.

Vinay Dube appointed as CEO of Domestc Airline GoAir.

Ajay H. Patel elected President of All-India Chess Federation (AICF).

Australia appointed Barry O'Farrell as New high commissioner to India.

RBI approved appointment of Sunil Gurbaxani as managing director and CEO

of Dhanlaxmi Bank.

Rajlaxmi Singh Deo re-elected as president of the Rowing Federation of India

(RFI).

Ms. Padmaja is appointed as next Indian High Commissioner to Oceanian

Nation Vanuatu.

Jawed Ashraf is appointed as New Indian Ambassador to France.

PSU National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) appointed Abhay

Kumar Singh as its new Chairman & Managing Director.

SN Shrivastava is appointed as new Chief (Commissioner) of Delhi Police.

Togo (West Africa) President Faure Gnassingbe won his fourth term as

President.

Abhishek Singh is appointed as New Indian Ambassador to Venezuela.

15. Mohammed Allawi has been appointed as Prime Minister of Iraq (50th).

16. Noted space scientist G Narayanan named as chairman of Indian Space Research

Organisation’s newly formed commercial entity New Space India Ltd (NSIL).


17. Paralympic medal-winner Deepa Malik is elected as president of Paralympic

Committee of India. She had won silver in shot putt F-53 at Rio 2016 Paralympics.

Gursharan Singh was elected as secretary general.

Sports Ministry had ‘de-recognised’ PCI last year after sacking of then-

president Rao Inderjit Singh.

Election results are to be scrutinised by Delhi HC.

18. Private Bank Indusnd Bank Appointed Sumant Kathpalia as MD and CEO.

19. RBI appointed 5 officials as executive directors - Indrani Banerjee, Saurav Sinha,

Vivek Deep, J.K. Dash and P. Vijayakumar. RBI has 12 executive directors.

20. Riek Machar has been appointed as first vice president in African Nation South

Sudan, to serve 3 years.

21. Supratim Bandyopadhyay has been appointed as chairman of PFRDA (Pension

Fund Regulatory and Development Authority).

22. Tata Trusts named Srinath Narasimhan as its CEO. Tata Trusts owns 66 % stake

in Tata Sons, holding company of the group.

Income-Tax Department in Oct 2019 had cancelled registration of six trusts

operating under Tata Trusts, a move that could result in tax liability of about

Rs 12,000 crores.

23. UK appointed Philip Barton as New High Commissioner to India. Also, Dame

Karen Pierce is appointed as Britain’s ambassador to US, becoming first woman to

hold the position.

24. Vijay Advani has been appointed by US-India Business Council (USIBC) as new

chairman of its Global Board of Directors.

Awards

1. 65th Amazon Filmfare Awards 2020 (hosted in Assam) :-

Best Film- ‘Gully Boy’

Best Director - Zoya Akhtar for ‘Gully Boy’

Best Actor In A Leading Role (Male)- Ranveer Singh for ‘Gully Boy’

Best Actor In A Leading Role (Female)- Alia Bhatt for ‘Gully Boy’

Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Female)- Amruta Subhash for ‘Gully Boy’

Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Male)- Siddhant Chaturvedi for ‘Gully Boy’

Best Music Album- ‘Gully Boy’: Zoya Akhtar-Ankur Tewari and ‘Kabir Singh’:

Mithoon, Amaal Mallik, Vishal Mishra, Sachet–Parampara and Akhil Sachdeva

Best Lyrics- Divine and Ankur Tewari for “Apna Time Aayega” (Gully Boy)


Best Playback Singer (Male)- Arijit Singh for “Kalank Nahi Ishq Hai Kajal Piya”

(Kalank)

Best Playback Singer (Female)- Shilpa Rao for Ke Ghungroo Toot Gaye (War)

Best Debut Director- Aditya Dhar for ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’

Best Debut Actor- Abhimanyu Dassani for ‘Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota’

Best Debut Actress- Ananya Pandey for ‘Student Of The Year 2’ and ‘Pati Patni

Aur Woh’

Lifetime Achievement Award- Ramesh Sippy

Excellence In Cinema- Govinda

RD Burman Award For Upcoming Music Talent- Sashwat Sachdev for URI

2. 73rd British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) Winners :-

Best Film – 1917

Best Director - Sam Mendes (1917)

Best Actor - Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)

Best Actress - Renée Zellweger (Judy)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Laura Dern (Marriage Story)

Outstanding British Film – 1917

Best Original Score - Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker)

Best Sound – 1917

Best Film Not (Other than English) - Parasite (South Korean)

Best Documentary - For Sama

Best Animated Film – Klaus

EE Rising Star - Micheal Ward

Joker received most nominations (11 categories).

A new award category was introduced - Best Casting.

1917 won most awards (7), including Best Film, Best British Film and Best

Director.

English actor Andy Serkis received BAFTA award for outstanding British

contribution to cinema.

3. The Banker Magazine named Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta

Das as ‘Central Banker of the Year 2020’ in Asia-Pacific region. He has been

honored for bringing in measures to regulate shadow banking through a

restrained approach.


4. Director and producer Priyadarshan conferred with Madhya Pradesh

government's National Kishore Kumar Samman for 2018- 19 and Noted Actress

Waheeda Rehman has been honored as awardee for 2017-18.

5. Dr Niti Kumar, Senior Scientist at CSIR-CDRI Lucknow received SERB Women

Excellence Award 2020. Award will be conferred by President of India during

National Science Day Celebrations on February 28 in Vigyan Bhawan (New Delhi).

6. FIH Awards 2019 by International Hockey Federation :-

Men's Player of the Year - Manpreet Singh (India). He is first indian to win FIH

Men's Player of the year.

Women's Player of the Year - Eva de Goede (Netherlands)

Men's Rising Star of the Year - Vivek Sagar (India)

Women’s Rising Star of the Year - Lalremsiami (India)

7. Forest Man of India Jadav Payeng will be awarded Swami Vivekananda Karmayogi

Award 2020 by My Home India, for his consistent efforts in creating a real man-

made forest through massive reforestation. It comprises reward of Rs 1 lakh.

8. Hindi poet-novelist Vinod Kumar Shukla won inaugural Mathrubhumi Book of the

Year award for his translated book Blue Is Like Blue. The award carries a cash

prize of Rs 5 lakh.

9. Indian freelance reporter Ahmer Khan named winner of Agence France-Presse

Kate Webb Prize, for his coverage in Kashmir during lockdown of the region after

India's decision to abrogate article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and

Kashmir.

10. Industrial Awards (Feb 2020) :-

Maharashtra Govt presented lifetime achievement award instituted by

Mantralaya and Vidhimandal Vartahar Sangh, to senior journalist Dinkar

Keshav Raikar

Defence Startup Big Bang Boom Solutions has been awarded SKOCH Award

for “Boron Nitrate Based Personal Hybrid Combat Armour ”.

Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has been awarded with Transport

Minister’s Road Safety Award 2018-19, for its lowest accident rate. Nagaland

road transport won under Hill category.

SCCL CMD N. Sridhar received Bharatiya Mahantam Puraskar 2019-20, at

13th Asian Business and Social Forum conference at Bangkok (Thailand).

Numaligarh Refinery Ltd MD SK Barua conferred with PSU Leadership Award

by Heavy Industries Ministry.


11. Odia and English writer Manoj Das received Mystic Kalinga Literary Award

(Indian and Global Languages) at Mystic Kalinga Festival (MKF). He was recently

conferred Padma Bhushan award in field of literature and education.

12. President Ram Nath Kovind presented International Gandhi Awards for

Leprosy to Dr N.S. Dharmashaktu, under Indian nomination (individual) category

and Leprosy Mission Trust under institutional category.

13. Sahitya Akademi Awards 2019 for Translation announced for 23 languages.

It contains prize money of 50000 INR. Awardees –

Assamese - Nava Kumar

Handique

Bengali - Taran Bandopadhyay

Bodo - Gopinath Brahma

Dogri - Rattan Lal Basotra

English - Susan Daniel

Gujarati - Bakula Ghaswala

Hindi - Alok Gupta

Kashmiri - Ratan Lal Jauhar

Konkani - Jayanti Naik

Maithili - Kedar Kanan

Malayalam - C G Rajagopal

Manipuri - kh. Prakash Singh

Marathi - Sai Paranjpye

Nepali - Sachin Rai Dumi

Odia - Ajoy Kumar Patnaik

Punjabi - Prem Parkash

Rajasthani - Dev Kothari

Sanskrit - Prem Shankar Sharma

Santhali - Kherwal Saran

Sindhi - Dholan Rahi

Tamil - K V Jeyasari

Telugu - P Satyavathy

Urdu - Aslam Mirze

Kannada is to be announced later

14. Sweden created two 1 million USD worth prizes named Food Planet Prize, as

a step is to address climate change threats towards food supply all over world.

Prizes are for an existing scalable solution for sustainable foods and innovative

initiatives to transform global food sector.

Books

1. Book Chanakya Niti: Verses on life and Living, translated by Aditya Narayan

Dhairyasheel Haksar and comprising famous sayings of ancient master of

statecraft Chanakya, has been released.

2. Book Messages from Messengers, written by Priti K Shroff has been released.

3. Book The Thin Mind Map Book, by Dharmendra Rai has been released.


4. Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar released book titled A Commentary & Digest on

The Air, Act 1981, written by K K Khandelwal

5. Kannada version of book who is bharat mata, translated by K E Radhakrishna and

titled as Yaaru Bharat Maate has been released by Former PM Mammohan Singh.

English version was penned by Purushottam Agarwal.

6. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu released Book titled A Child of Destiny, by Koneru

Ramakrishna Rao (GITAM University).

7. Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu released book titled Death; An Inside Story: A book

for all those who shall die, written by Jaggi Vasudev, (generally referred to as

Sadhguru).

Committees

1. 15th Finance Commission (Headed by N K Singh) constituted a Group on Defence

and Internal Security, headed by N.K. Singh. Its Mandate is to examine whether a

separate mechanism for funding of defence and internal security ought to be set

up.

2. 15th Finance Commission (headed by N K Singh) constituted a High Level Expert

Group on Agriculture Exports, to recommend measurable performance incentives

for States to encourage agri exports and promote crops to enable high import

substitution. It will be headed by Sanjiv Puri (ITC CMD).

3. 2nd National Judicial Pay Commission submitted its Report, covering the subject of

Pay, Pension and Allowances. It is chaired by Justice P.V. Reddi.

4. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) formed a

committee under National Insurance Academy director G Srinivasan, to study

feasibility of allowing life insurers to offer Inedmnity based health policies once

again. The ban on selling indemnity-based health insurance policies was put Four

years ago.

5. Feb 6 is observed as International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital

Mutilation, with 2020 Theme Unleashing Youth Power. It was first introduced in

2003.

6. Feb 11 is observed as UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science,

observed since 2015. 2020 Theme is Investment in Women and Girls in Science for

Inclusive Green Growth.


7. Feb 11 is observed as World Unani Day, to mark birth anniversary of India's noted

Unani scholar and social reformer Hakim Ajmal Khan. He was one of the founders

of the Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi.

8. Feb 12 is observed as National Productivity Day in India, with National

Productivity Week observed between February 12 - 18 every year

9. Feb 13 is observed as National Women's Day in India, marking birth anniversary of

Sarojini Naidu. She is known as sobriquet Nightingale of India (Bharat Kokila). She

was born on February 13, 1879.

10. Feb 13 is observed as UNESCO World Radio Day. 2020 theme is Radio and

Diversity. It was first celebrated in 2013.

11. Feb 14, 2020 observed as First Anniversary of Pulwama Attacks on CRPFon

Feb 14, 20219. A Memorial was inaugurated at the Lethpora camp for 40 CRPF

(Central Reserve Police Force) personnel who were killed in Pulwama Attack.

12. Feb 15, 2020 is observed as World Pangolin Day, observed every year on

third Saturday of February. Pangolin are seeing rapid decline as Pangolin scales

are rich in medicinal properties.

13. Feb 21 is observed as UNESCO International Mother Language Day, with

2020 theme Languages without borders. It was Proclaimed by UN in 2002.

14. Feb 24 is observed in India as Central Excise Day. It commemorates

legislation of Central Excise and Salt act on 24 February in 1944.

15. Feb 29 is Birth Anniversary of Morarji Desai, Former (4th) Prime Minister of

India (1977 and 1979). It is notable as Mr. Desai was born on Feb 29 (leap day).

16. Feb 4 is observed as World Cancer Day, being observed since 2008. 2010

theme is I am I will (2019 - 2021).

17. Feb 8 is birth anniversary of Zakir Husain Khan, the third President of India

(1967 - 1969).

Defence

1. India's First CDS (Chief Of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat) stated that newly

created Department of Military Affairs will roll out first ‘theatre command’ by

2022. Also, 2 integrated commands - Air Defence and Peninsular command are

being set up immediately.


Peninsular Command will be formed by merging Western and Eastern

Command of Indian Navy, which will spread from Sir Creek near the Arabian

Sea to Sundarbans in the Bay of Bengal. Currently, there are 2 tri-service

commands – Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) and Strategic Forces

Command (looks after nuclear assets.

'Theatre command’, also called joint commands, will look to provide all assets

for war under a single commander.

Aim is to set up Air defence command by June 2020 and Peninsular Command

by end of 2021.

2. 5th Joint Air Force Exercie of India and UK - named Ex Indradhanush commened at

Hindon Air Station in Ghaziabad.

3. 5th edition of Exercise AJEYA WARRIOR-2020 between India and United Kingdom

Armies commenced at Salisbury Plains (UK).

4. 6th Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV-6) VAJRA of Indian Coast guard

launched.

5. 9th edition of India-Bangladesh joint military exercise Sampriti commenced at

Umroi (Meghalaya).

6. Sharang Artillery Gun has been inducted into Indian Army, produced at Kanpur

ordnance factory. These have been upgraded from 130 mm to 155 mm, with

hitting range increased from 12 kilo metres to 39 kilo metres.

7. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) handed over 55 Bhabha Kavach

bulletproof jackets Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

It is lightest level III plus bulletproof jacket available in India, weighing 6.8 kgs.

It is based on indigenous hot pressed Boron carbide and carbon nanotube

technologies.

It can stop 7.62 x 39 mm hard steel core bullets fired from AK 47 rifles, 5.56 x

45mm Ball MK M bullets of Indian Small Arms System (INSAS) rifles and Self

Load Rifles (SLR)/Bolt action rifles with a back face signature of less than 15

mm.

8. DRDO started developing a 200-km strike range tactical ballistic missile Pranash,

with range 200 KM. It will be an advanced version of 150-km strike range Prahar

missile.

9. Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE) delivered its fourth anti-

submarine warfare stealth corvette to Indian Navy, Named Kavaratti.


10. India will have 10 more defence attaches to 10 different countries, To

promote defence exports and expand its defence diplomacy.

11. Indian Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Vessel ICGS Varad has been

commissioned into service. Notably, It is first defence ship to clear all acceptance

trials in a single go.

12. Indian Naval Sailing Vessels Mhadei and Tarini set sail for Bay of Bengal

Offshore Sailing Expedition, on a prolonged voyage of 3 months.

13. Indian Naval Ship (INS) Jamuna reached Sri Lanka to carry out a joint

Hydrographic survey, to be conducted for 2 months.

14. Indian Navy launched a unique coastal security exercise in Sunderbans

region (West Bengal), called Matla Abhiyaan, to create awareness about the coastal

security to local community.

15. Larsen & Toubro's joint venture with European defence major MBDA, called

L&T MBDA Missile Systems (LTMMSL) has set up a missile integration facility

(Inert) in Tamil Nadu.

16. President Ram Nath Kovind presented President’s Colours Awards to Indian

Naval Station INS Shivaji, on it completing 75 years of service for Indian Navy.

17. US approved sale of Integrated Air Defence Weapon System (IADWS) to

India, costing 1.86 billion USD. The deal is expected to be sealed during Visit of US

president Donald Trump to India, during end of March 2020. IADWS includes Air

Defence Weapon System, AMRAAM Missiles, NASAMS-II, surface to air missiles,

radars, etc.

Economy

1. Economist Intelligence Unit revised downwards its global growth forecast for

2020 to 2.2% from 2.3%, because of Novel coronavirus outbreak in China and

globally.

2. Odisha government signed MoU with HDFC Bank to provide smart banking

solutions to Startups in state.

Odisha government also announced 5 % hike in dearness allowance, benefiting

around 3.5 lakh government employees and 1.5 lakh pensioners.

3. According to The Banker’s Top 500 Banking Brands 2020 report –


India's IndusInd Bank topped list of ‘Highest increase in brand value’ among

global banks, with its brand value increasing 122% in months.

List Top 50 By Total Brand Value by Country has been topped by China,

followed by US and Canada. India ranked 8th.

4. Airtel Payments Bank launched Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS),

enabling customers of any bank with Aadhaar-linked bank accounts will be able to

do financial transactions at designated banking points of Airtel Payments Bank.

5. As per Official data, government’s fiscal deficit touched 132.4% of full-year target

at December-end mainly due to slower pace of revenue collections. Fiscal deficit

(gap between expenditure and revenue) was 9,31, 725 crores at end of Dec 2019.

As per revised estimates of FY 2019-20, Fiscal Deficit is to be kept within 3.8 % of

GDP.

6. Bank of Baroda signed a pact with Care Ratings to assess credit quality of its small

and medium enterprises (SME) customers.

7. Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) will be set up April 2020, under

Consumer Protection Act 2019. It will address issues related to consumer rights,

unfair trade practices, misleading advertisements and impose penalties for selling

spurious and adulterated products.

8. Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved acquisition of 100% of equity of

North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) by NTPC Limited, from

Government of India.

9. Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved acquisition of 74.50% equity of

THDC India by NTPC Limited from Government of India.

10. Department of Telecom approved merger of mobile tower company Indus

Towers with Bharti Infratel, which will create a panIndia tower company with over

163,000 towers. Combined entity will be largest tower company in world outside

China.

11. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) approved merger of Tata

Teleservices consumer mobility business with Bharti Airtel.

12. E-Commerce Firm Flipkart has shut down its subsisdiary Jabong, to focus on

Its another Online fashion subsidiary Myntra. Users visiting Jabong are being sent

to Myntra. Flipkart bought Jabong In 2016, for USD 70 million and had acquired

Myntra in 2014.

13. Finance Ministry notified Printing of One Rupee Currency Notes Rules 2020

:-


Obverse side will feature bilingual signature of Atanu Chakraborty, Secretary

(Ministry of Finance) and capital Inset letter ‘L’ in numbering panel. Design

surrounding will be of Sagar Samrat, an oil exploration rig. Colour will be

predominantly pink green.

Currency notes were introduced in India in 1861, with 1 rupee note introduced

by British in November 1917. Although printing of note was discontinued in

1994, it was reintroduced in 2015.

14. General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re) received license from Bank

of Russia to commence reinsurance business in Russia, for its subsidiary company

"GIC Perestrakhovanie LLC".

15. Government and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry

(FICCI) launched India-Central Asia Business Council, as a common platform for

businesses of Central Asia and India.

16. Government will infuse 1300 crores into state-owned Export-Import Bank of

India (Exim Bank) in next fiscal, to fund its business growth. Last year, government

doubled its authorised capital from Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore. This year,

government earmarked Rs 950 crore capital infusion for Exim Bank.

17. Gujarat government signed MoU with State Bank of India to facilitate

approval of loans to entrepreneurs in MSME sector with ease.

18. In 2018-19, US surpassed China to become India's top trading partner, as per

data by commerce ministry. Trade between US and India was USD 87.95 billion,

ahead of that with China being USD 87.07 billion.

19. Income Tax Department announced that Permanent Account Number (PAN)

will become inoperative if it is not linked with Aadhaar on or before March 31,

2020. Over 30.75 crore PANs have been linked to Aadhaar till now. However,

around 17.58 crore PANs are still yet to be linked.

20. India Signed $450 million loan agreement with World Bank, to support Atal

Bhujal Yojana, the National Groundwater Management Improvement Programme

which aims to contain country’s depleting groundwater levels and strengthen

groundwater institutions.

World Bank support will be used in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka,

Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh and cover 78 districts.

The $450 million loan, from World Bank's International Bank for Reconstruction

and Development (IBRD), has a 6-year grace period, and maturity of 18 years.


21. Indian IT Firm Tech Mahindra acquired US-based Zen3 Infosolutions for 460

crore ($64 million). It will help Tech Mahindra in bolstering its enterprise

application practice and capabilities

22. Indian Oil Corp acquired a minority stake in Israeli battery developer

Phinergy, for developing ultra lightweight metal-air batteries that can be used in

electric vehicles (EVs). IOC and Phinergy will form a joint venture in India to

collaborate in developing aluminium-air battery system including research &

development, assembly, sell and service of aluminium-air energy systems

technology.

23. Kotak Mahindra Bank received RBI's final approval for reducing promoters'

shareholding to 26% of paid-up voting equity share capital. Bank will cap

promoters' voting rights to 15% from April 1 onwards.

24. Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman Presented

Union Budget 2020-21 in Parliament. It is 2nd full Budget of newly elected NDA

Government forming 17th Lok Sabha, led by PM Narendra Modi. See Highlights.

25. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) opened a Industry and

Investors' Facilitation Centre in Ministry, to work as a focal point to provide

correct and timely information on Policies and programmes of Government and

also resolve issues of the renewable energy (RE) investors and industry.

26. Airports Authority of India signed three concession agreements with Adani

Enterprises for operations, management and development of Ahmedabad,

Lucknow and Mangaluru airports, for next 50 years.

27. Interactive AI Powered ChatBot solution LIDEA has been launched by Birla

Estates, for better customer support.

28. Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar inaugurated Baroda Startup Banking, an

initiative aimed at making the bank a preferred banking partner for the start-up

community and connecting with 2000 start-ups. It will include 15 Baroda Startup

branches in 15 cities.

29. NTPC raised syndicated Japanese yen loan worth $750 million to help reduce

air pollution from its power projects across India. It is largest ever syndicated JPY

loan raised by any Asian corporate from offshore Samurai loan market and highest

ever single foreign currency loan raised by NTPC.

30. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) approved

loan of 140 crores at low interest rates, to Punjab State Agricultural Development

Bank (PSADB).


31. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) sanctioned

funds approx 400 crores for Various Infrastructure projects in UT of Jammu and

Kashmir for current financial year.

32. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) Launched UPI Chalega

Campaign, to further Promote Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Platform. UPI has

clocked over 100 crore transactions per month.

33. Ordnance Factory Board became 1st government entity to adopt centralised

invoicing platform TreDS (Trade Receivables electronic Discount System),

covering 41 Ordnance Factories.

34. Patients in need of expensive treatment not covered by packages under

Ayushman Bharat insurance scheme will now again be able to get financial

assistance of up to Rs 15 lakh under Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) scheme.

35. Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) increased

minimum net worth criterion for pension fund managers, from 25 to 50 crores.

36. RBI allowed Bandhan Bank to open branches without its prior approval,

lifting a ban imposed for failing to reduce promoter ownership below mandated

40%..

37. RBI conducted Financial Literacy Week 2020 between February 10 - 14,

2020. Theme is “Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)”

38. RBI introduced 'low KYC' accounts will allow customers to continue making

payments using mobile wallets. Previously, RBI had urged payments companies to

comply with 'full KYC' before February 29, 2020.

39. RBI issued draft framework for authorisation of a pan-India new umbrella

entity (NUE) for retail payment systems. At present, only National Payments

Corporation of India (NPCI), a not-for-profit company, performs this role. The NUE

could choose to be a for-profit entity or not-for-profit.

40. RBI will launch Digital Payments Index (DPI) by July 2020, to assess and

capture the extent of digitalisation of payments effectively.

41. Rating agency Crisil completed acquisition of US Based proprietary

benchmarking data provider Greenwich Associates, announced in December 2019.

42. Reliance General Insurance Company launched health insurance plan named

Infinity, with 90 days pre and 180 days post hospitalization cover and sum insured

between 3 lakh to 1 crores.


43. US Based IT Firm Microsoft partnered with State Bank of India, to train

differently-abled people find jobs in banking, financial services and insurance

(BFSI) sector.

44. Wipro Digital acquired US based Rational Interaction, a full-service digital

customer experience (CX) company.

International

1. 1st Jerusalem-Mumbai festival held in Mumbai, to promote artistic and cultural

ties between Israel and India. The festival, part of a project, has been held in cities

around world including Prague and Moscow. Mumbai is first city in Asia to host the

event.

2. Top 5 Richest People (Billion USD) :-

Jeff Bezos (US) – 140

Bernard Arnault (France) – 107

Bill Gates (US) – 106

Warren Buffett (US) – 102

Mark Zuckerberg (US) – 84

India's Richest Mukesh Ambani is ranked 9th globally, with worth 67 Billion

USD.

3. Counries with most number of Billionaires:-

China (799)

USA (626)

India (137)

Germany (122)

UK (119)

4. Britain’s Prince Charles unveiled a new Children’s protection fund for India as part

of British Asian Trust, the charity founded by him in 2007 to fight poverty in South

Asia. American singer Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (Katy Perry) is named as

ambassador for the same.

5. United Arab Emirates discovered shallow natural gas reserves of about 80 trillion

cubic feet, discovered between Emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

6. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos committed $10 billion to a new fund to tackle climate

change.


7. As per Counterpoint Research’s Market Monitor service report, India surpassed US

to become 2nd largest smartphone market. India recorded 158 million shipments

in 2019 with 7% year-on-year growth. List was topped by China.

8. Asian Development Bank (ADB) raised Rs 850 crore (USD 118 million) from a new

issue of offshore Indian rupee-linked 10-year bonds.

9. Bhutan introduced a new system for regional tourists called ‘Sustainable

Development Fee’, after a concerned legislation was passed by Tshogdu (lower

house of Bhutan’s Parliament). Now, tourists from India, Maldives, and Bangladesh

have to pay a certain amount for stay in Bhutan. Amount is 1200 Bhutanese

Ngultrum (USD 16.85) per day, to be applicable from July 2020.

10. India and Myanmar signed an MoU for regular passenger bus service

between Imphal and Mandalay, from April 2020.

11. India banned exports of all kinds of personal protection equipment,

including clothing and masks used to protect people from air borne particles.

12. India slammed reference of Jammu and Kashmir in Turkey-Pakistan joint

declaration, calling upon Turkey to not interfere in its internal affairs. Turkish

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also made a reference to Jammu and Kashmir

during his visit to Pakistan.

13. Maldives re-joined 54 member Commonwealth group. In 2016, Maldives

pulled out of Commonwealth terming “unjust” the grouping’s decision to penalise

Maldives over former President Mohamed Nasheed’s controversial ouster in 2012.

14. Nepal's Arun-3 hydropower project secured more than Rs 101 billion from a

consortium of Nepali and Indian banks. It is largest Indian-backed project in Nepal.

15. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and its subsidiary Hindustan

Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) acquired 17.28% stake each from 34.56 %

of bankers’ stake in Petronet MHB, that owns a petroleum product pipeline in

Mangalore (Karnataka0 for about Rs 371 crores.

16. Pakistan test fired 600 km range Ra’ad II missile, with upgraded range from

550km to 600 km.

17. Pakistan will remain on FATF (Financial Action Task Force) Grey List till

June 2020, and has been warned of stern action if it fails to check flow of money to

terror groups. This was decided by global terror financing watchdog FATF during

its plenary meet in Paris (France).


18. Pakistan, Somalia declared National Emergency amid severe locust attacks,

to tackle the insects that are destroying crops in Punjab province, the main region

of agricultural production

19. Sri Lanka withdrew from UNHCR (UN Human Rights Council) resolution,

which aimed at resolution is investigation of war time violence against Tamil Tiger

rebels. US had barred Sri Lankan Army Chief from entering US soil accusing him of

war crimes.

20. US removed India from its list of developing countries that are exempt from

investigations into whether they harm American industry with unfairly subsidised

exports.

21. US signed a peace agreement with Taliban in Doha (Qatar), for a phased

withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, marking an end to America’s longest

war. India witnessed the signing as an observer nation.

22. United Arab Emirates issued a licence for a reactor at its Barakah nuclear

power plant, making UAE first Arab country to operate a nuclear power plant.

When fully operational, the four reactors have the capacity to generate 5,600

megawatts of electricity, around 25 % of UAE’s needs.

23. United Nations released additional USD 30 million to support humanitarian

operations in Syria's Idlib province

24. World Health Organization announced a new name for the Corona Virus,

“COVID-19”. Other updates about Coronavirus –

Pangolin, the most trafficked mammal of Asia, has been identified as host of

Corona virus by chinse researchers.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved the funding of USD 2 million to

combat the spread of novel coronavirus (nCoV).

WHO called for USD 675 million in donations for a plan to fight novel

coronavirus, mainly through investment in countries considered particularly

"at risk".

Kerala Government declared outbreak of novel coronavirus as state disaster

As per Research at Robert Koch institute in Humboldt University (Germany),

India ranks 17th in spread of Coronavirus.

25. World Meteorological Organization announced Antarctica recording its

hottest temperature ever, at 20.75 Degree Celsius. It has went past earlier record

of 18.3 Degrees Celsius, recorded in January 1982.


Meetings

1. 11th DefExpo 2020 Held in Lucknow, Organized by Defence Exhibition

Organisation, showcasing export potential of Indian defence industry.

2. Indian Army’s College of Military Engineering Pune, led by Major Anoopr Mishra,

has developed gunshot locators named as “Parth”. It costs around Rs 3 lakhs which

is less than imported ones, which cost approx 65 lakhs. It can locate exact location

of a bullet from a distance of 400m & neutralize targets faster.

3. Major Anoop Mishra has also developed a bulletproof jacket for protection against

sniper bullets & a helmet which is claimed first in the world that can stop AK-47

(Automatic Kalashnikov- 47) bullets from a distance of 10 meters.

4. 1st India-Africa Defence Ministers’ Conclave held during DefExpo-2020, with

adoption of Lucknow Declaration, signed by 50 African Nations. It recalls

strengthening defence cooperation of India with African Nations.

5. 1st India-Africa Defence Ministers’ Conclave held during DefExpo-2020, with

adoption of Lucknow Declaration, signed by 50 African Nations. It recalls

strengthening defence cooperation of India with African Nations.

6. Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics

Limited (HAL) of India received initial operational clearance. HAL will

manufacture approx 200 helicopters indigenously, to meet requirements of Indian

Army and Air Force.

7. Indian Navy will get 3rd Scorpene submarine named Karanj, in December 2020. All

6 sub-marine deliveries would be completed by 2022.

8. First scorpene submarine was named Kulvari (commissioned in 2018) and 2nd

Khanderi was inducted in September 2019.

9. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) signed an MOU with Israel-based defense

electronics company Elbit Systems, to promote and market the Digital Head-Up

Displays (HUD) units.

10. HAL Partnered with Israel Aerospace Industries, to manufacture Advanced

Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs). Advanced Heron TP, belonging to

Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) class with an endurance of over 36

hours, will be manufactured.

11. 23rd National Conference on e-Governance 2020 based on theme “India

2020: Digital Transformation”, held at Mumbai

12. 33rd African Union (AU) summit Held in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), under

theme Silencing the Guns: Creating conducive conditions for Africa's development


13. BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic

Cooperation) Conference on Combating Drug Trafficking held in New Delhi,

attended by BIMSTEC partners (Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand

and Sri Lanka).

14. G20 Finance Ministers & Central Bank Governors Meeting held in Riyadh

(Saudi Arabia) with theme Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century for All.

15. Government appointed M Ajit Kumar as chairman of Central Board of

Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).

16. International Conference on Standardisation of AYUSH Terminologies held

in Delhi, called ICoSDiTAUS-2020. It adopted New Delhi Declaration on Collection

and Classification of Traditional Medicine (TM) Diagnostic Data. This 16 nations

event is biggest ever international event dedicated to standardisation of Diagnosis

and Terminologies of Traditional Medicine in terms of broad level of participation.

17. International Judicial Conference 2020 held in New Delhi, with theme

Gender Just-World and subject Judiciary and The Changing World.

18. India and Norway issued Joint Statement on Climate and Environment,

pressing need to work jointly towards mitigating marine plastic litter and

microplastics.

19. Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari represented India at

3rd global Conference on Road Safety in Stockholm (Sweden). It was aimed at

prepare roadmap for achieving Global Goals 2030.

National

1. 2nd Advance Estimates of production of major crops for 2019-20 released by

Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare.

2. India will switch to World’s cleanest petrol and diesel from April 1, 2020, by

proceeding to Bharat Stage (BS-VI) from BS-IV grades at present.

3. 34th edition of Surajkund International Crafts Fair, organized by Haryana

Government in Faridabad. Partner country is Uzbekistan and theme state is

Himachal Pradesh.

4. 44th International Kolkata Book Fair Held in Kolkata with Russia as the focal

theme country. It is world’s largest non-trade book fair, Asia’s largest book fair and


the most attended book fair in world. It is also world's third largest annual

conglomeration of books after Frankfurt Book Fair and the London Book Fair.

5. Ministry of Corporate Affairs inaugurated ‘SPICe+’ Web Form, replacing existing

SPICe form. It would offer 10 services by 3 Central Govt Ministries & Departments

(Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Labour & Department of Revenue in

Ministry of Finance) and a State Government (Maharashtra).

6. Government renamed National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM)

Faridabad as Arun Jaitley National Institute of Financial Management (AJNIFM).

7. Andhra Pradesh Govt inaugurated first Disha Police Station, in

Rajamahendravaram city, to deal with crimes against women. 18 such police

stations will be opened in Feb 2020.

8. Andhra Pradesh government launched a scheme to implement disbursal of social

security pensions to beneficiaries at their doorstep, named Intivadhakey Pension

program.

9. Budget Session 2020 :-

Budget Session to be held in 2 phases - Phase 1 in January 31-February 11 and

second session from March 2-April 3, 2020.

Productivitiy of Both houses (Lok and Rajya Sabha) was 93 %.

5.6 km long railway line between Agartala (Tripura) and Akhaura in Bangladesh

will be completed by September 2021, improving connectivity between Indian

and Bangladesh Railways and boosting trade.

India’s trade deficit with China reduced from USD 63.05 billion to USD 53.57

billion.

Unemployment rate in India was 6.1 % in 2017-18, as per new Periodic Labour

Force Survey being conducted by government. Labour force participation is 36.9

% in 2017-18.

Approx 38 Crores Bank accounts opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana

(PMJDY) till January 2020, launched in 2014. PMJDY accounts have “No

minimum balance” requirement. It offers an overdraft (OD) limit of Rs 10,000 &

free accident insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh.

As per UNICEF's State of World's Children Report 2019, Under 5 Mortality Rate

in India is 37 per 1,000 live births against Global average of 39 per 1,000 live

births in 2018, which translates to more than 8 lakhs under 5 deaths in India.


10. Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel inaugurated Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi as

28th district of the state. New district has been carved out of Bilaspur, and has 3

tehsils and three development blocks namely Gaurela, Pendra and Marwahi.

11. Hyderabad Metro became the 2nd-largest operational metro network in

India. It now covers 69.2 km, after launch of another 11-km stretch. , Hyderabad

Metro is also world’s largest public-private partnership project.

12. APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development

Authority) signed MoU with CSIR-CFTRI (Central Food Technological Research

Institute), under which CFTRI will provide technical support to food industries in

North East Region. APEDA will also set up a Liaison Office in Guwahati.

13. Air India Subsidiary Alliance Air commenced direct daily flight operations

from Bhubaneswar to Varanasi under RCS-UDAN (Regional Connectivity Scheme –

Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), as 250th route being operationalised under RCS –

UDAN

14. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) banned simultaneous

conduct of Post graduate diploma in management (PGDM) and Master of business

administration (MBA) Programme by Higher education institutions

15. Andhra Pradesh Govt launched a doorstep pension delivery scheme named

‘YSR Pension Kanuka’. Under this, various welfare pensions will be delivered to old

age pensioners. Old age pension age is also reduced from 65 to 60 years.

16. Banaras Hindu University (BHU) surveyors discovered Approx 4000 yeas

old urban settlement in Varanasi, which could reportedly be one of craft villages

mentioned in ancient texts.

17. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will develop an air quality

monitoring network across 90 locations in Mumbai, as largest such network in

India. These stations will give location-wise updates on the quality of air.

Currently, Mumbai has 30 air quality monitoring stations.

18. Chinese Smartphone maker Xiaomi collaborated with ISRO to bring ISRO’s

Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System “NavIC technology” to its

smartphones.

19. Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) became 1st airport in

India to be completely free of single-use plastic usage, inline with India’s target to

abolish all single-use plastic by 2022.

20. Department of Science & Technology launched a unique scheme called

Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institutes (SATHI), To address need


for building shared, managed and strong Science and Technology infrastructure in

country, which is readily accessible to academia, start-ups, manufacturing,

industry and R&D labs.

21. Department of Telecommunications (DoT) launched 3 phase ‘5G Hackathon’,

to shortlist focused cutting edge ideas that can be converted into workable 5G

solutions. It will culminate at India Mobile Congress in October 2020. Winners will

share prize pool of 2.5 crores.

22. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) signed MoU with Bharat Sanchar

Nigam Limited (BSNL) for installation of public charging stations to boost e-

mobility adoption across India. Under this, EESL will set up public charging

stations in 1000 BSNL sites in a phased manner.

23. Government Approved Forming Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra trust,

to facilitate development and maintenance of Shri Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, as per

Supreme court judgement. There will be 15 trustees in Trust, while one trustee

will always be from Dalit society. K. Parasaran (92) has been appointed the

chairman of the trust.

24. Government renamed The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA)

as Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies andAnalyses, to honour

commitment and legacy of late Manohar Parrikar, former Defence Minister and

Goa CM.

25. Himachal Pradesh reportedly became First state To Achieve 100% LPG

Coverage, with no home left without LPG Connection.

26. IIT Palakkad will set uo a research centre in data science, at Kanjikode. It is

aimed as a providing platform of research for artificial intelligence and Data

Science, named as Centre for Research and Education in Data Science.

27. IRCTC's Kashi Mahakal Express, The third private train of India, has been

flagged off by PM Narendra Modi. It will run between Indore and Varanasi and

connect three Jyotirlinga shrines Omkareshwar, Mahakaleshwar, and Kashi

Vishwanath.

28. ISRO announced developing low-cost satellite launch vehicles costing,

costing 30-35 crores each, which can put into orbit satellites weighing up to 500

kg. This will give ISRO big commercial boost, as it will be able to cater to micro,

mini and medium, segments. ISRO has earmarked $1,600 million for launch

vehicles, $870 million for PSLV and remaining for GSLV.


29. India’s Atomic Energy Commission researchers found Lithium Reserves of

14,100 tonnes in Mandya (Karnataka). This rare metal is mainly used in

manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles. Globally, Chile produces 8.6 million

tonnes, Australia produces 2.8. million tonnes and 1.7 million tonnes in Argentina.

India imported 1.2 billion USD worth lithium batteries in 2019.

30. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan launched “Yodhavu” (Warrior) mobile app.

Through this app, public can inform police about drug abuse and its distribution.

31. Kerala High Court banned all types of political movements in college and

school premises, Banning various forms of agitation in campuses.

32. Madhya Pradesh became first state to introduce unified registration card

and second state to launch unified driving license after Uttar Pradesh. Unified

smart cards for driving license and vehicle registration have a QR code that can

help verifying authenticity of data printed on cards.

33. Maharashtra Government ordered to destroy Thai Mangur fish breeding

centres , mainly because the fish is cultivated in unhygienic conditions. National

Green Tribunal in 2000 banned cultivation of Thai Mangur. A study says that

Mangur fish is responsible for 70% decline in native fish species of country.

34. Maharashtra assembly approved Maharashtra Compulsory Teaching and

Learning of Marathi Language in Schools Bill 2020, to make Marathi Language as a

mandatory subject in all schools of state. Schools which fails to implement it, will

pay penalty of 1 lakh.

35. Maharashtra government will undertake genetic study to conserve native

species of cattle and domesticated animals in Marathwada region of state.

36. Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) will modernize

25 fishing harbours in India. to increase value of marine products. It will begin

from 2 harbours namely Nizampatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Thoppumpady in

Kochi (Kerala).

37. Minister of State (IC) Power and New & Renewable Energy R. K. Singh

inaugurated Northern Region Renewable Energy Management Centre (NR-REMC).

He dedicated to nation, eleven REMCs, placing India among few nations that have

state-of-theart management centers for renewable energy integration. It is part of

Government's aim to achieve 175 GW RE Capacity by 2022.

38. Minister of Women & Child Development and Textiles, Zubin Irani Honored

States / UTS / Districts, for implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana

Yojana (PMMVY) . Top performing :-


States/ UTs with population over 1 crore - Madhya Pradesh.

States/ UTs with population over 1 crore - Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

Districts with population over 1 crore - Indore (MP).

Districts with population Under 1 crore - Serchhip (Mizoram).

PMMVY is a maternity benefit programme being implemented from

01.01.2017. Under it, cash incentive of 5000 is provided to Pregnant Women

and Lactating Mothers for first living child of family.

39. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced to bring medical devices

under Drugs and Cosmetics act (DCA), from April 2020 onwards. Every product

that is used to treat a patient will now be under the ambit of DCA. List of 37 devices

has been ncluded.

40. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare introduced School Health

Ambassador initiative. Under this, 2 teachers in every school are to be made as

Health and Wellness ambassador. It will be linked with other initiatives such as Eat

Right Campaign, Fit India Movement and Poshan Abhiyan. 11 themes have been

identified for the initiative.

41. Ministry of Lobour and Employment Launched Santusht Portal, which aims

at speedy redressal of public grievances, ensuring transparency, accountability,

schemes and policies at grass root level.

42. Ministry of coal launched web portal to provide star rating of coal mines.

Mines scoring between 91% and 100% will get 5 star below 91% and above 81%

will receive 4 star and so on. Mines are to be rated based on 50 parameters.

43. Mumbai airport launched world's largest temperature-controlled facility to

store agro and pharma products called Export Cold Zone. It is capable of holding

more than 700 tonnes of cargo.

44. NITI Aayog's Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) in collaboration with National

Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) launched an AI based

Module rolled out for students in Indian schools, To empower young minds with

latest technologies.

45. NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) signed MoU with Central

Pollution Control Board, to provide financial support for installation &

commissioning of Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS).

Data from these stations will be used as inputs for Air Quality Index evaluation for

respective cities.


46. Naga tribes of Manipur celebrated it's seed sowing festival 'Lui-Ngai-Ni',

under theme "Oneness through Culture’ .

47. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) decommissioned its

Spitzer Space Telescope , which was used to study the universe by detecting

cosmic infrared radiation for more than 16 years, since its launch in 2003.

48. Northeast Frontier Railway is Constructing India’s tallest railway pier

bridge with 100 meter height, across Makru river in the Tamenglong district of

Manipur. Targeted to be completed in March 2022, Its cost is 283 crores.

49. PM Narendra Modi laid foundation stone for Bundelkhand Expressway at

Chitrakoot.

This 296-kilometre expressway will start from Bundelkhand's Chitrakoot

Dham (Karwi) and will join Agra Lucknow. Expressway, with cost 14716

crores, It will link Bundelkhand area to national capital Delhi through Agra-

Lucknow expressway and Yamuna expressway as well as play a vital role in

development of Bundelkhand region.

PM Modi also Launched a recently Approved Central Sector Scheme

Formation and Promotion of Farmer Produce Organizations (FPOs), to

promote forming 10000 FPOs in 5 years (2019-20 to 2023-24), to ensure

economies of scale for farmers. Support to each FPO be continued for 5

years from its year of inception.

He also launched a saturation drive for distribution of Kisan Credit Cards

(KCC) to all beneficiaries under PM-KISAN Scheme.

50. Puducherry Legislative Assembly became First UT to pass a resolution

against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019, National Register of Citizens

(NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).

51. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurated first phase of East-West Metro

line, which is Kolkata’s second metro line. It is a 5.3 kms long stretch with 6

elevated stations.

52. Rajasthan Capital Jaipur received World Heritage Certificate from UNESCO,

for efforts of the people of Jaipur towards preserving its cultural heritage.

53. Rajasthan government announced to issue separate identity cards for

persons belonging to transgender community in state Kerala was the first state to

implement this. Kerala was also first Indian state to have a transgender policy.


54. Soil Health Card Scheme, launched by PM Narendra Modi on February 19,

2015, has completed 5 years on feb 19, 2020. 2015 was also observed as

International Year of Soils.

55. South Central Railways (SCR) zone become 1st zonal Indian railways, to

have functional “energy neutral” railway stations on network, by converting 13

railway stations into “energy neutral” stations. Energy-neutral railway stations are

capable of meeting 100 % energy requirements by tapping into solar power.

56. Study by National Productivity Council reported that use of soil cards has

reduced the fertilizer use by 10%, also increasing productivity by 5-6%. Soil Health

Card Scheme was launched by Government in 2014-15, to address issue of

declining soil nutrients.

57. Supreme Court upheld constitutional validity of Scheduled Castes and

Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act of 2018.

58. Supreme Court upheld judgement of Delhi HC over issue of commissioning

of women officers in Indian Army, by granting permission to commission women

officers in Indian Army. Earlier, permanent service commission for women were

not allowed, especially in combat units.

59. Tamil Nadu Govt declaed Cauvery Delta as Protected Special Agricultural

Zone :-

In 2019, Central Government awarded oil and gas exploration projects in

Cauvery basin. This invoked large protests amid water crisis in state. Extraction

of hydro carbon requires excess amount of fresh water.

With zone being Agricultural protected Zone, permission of State government is

required to undertake projects.

A land announced as Protected Agricultural Zone, cannot be used for any other

non-agricultural activities.

60. To check illegal lottery sales in guise of online lottery, Punjab Govt banned

sale of all types of online lottery schemes in the state.

61. Tripura held its 1st ever hornbill festival, to raise awareness among people

for conservation of the bird and to showcase biodiversity in state.

62. UP Govt entered into collaboration with eGov Foundation, to boost reforms

in urban sector by implementing municipal financial accounting system. eGov

Foundation will provide Accrual Based Double Entry Financial Accounting

Application of DIGIT (Digital Infrastructure for Governance, Impact &

Transformation) - India's Largest Open Source Platform for Urban Governance.


63. UT of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir will soon be brought under Central

Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which so far has its jurisdiction only over central

services of Jammu and Kashmir. Till Govt sets up a CAT exclusively for J&K,

Chandigarh bench is to serve UT of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

64. Uttar Pradesh Cabinet approved Ground Water Act-2020, which aims to

improve ground water level by enforcing several regulations –

65. Uttar Pradesh Cabinet approved changing name of Khwaja Moinuddin

Chishti Urdu, Arabi-Farsi University as Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Languages

University. For this, State University Act 1973 will be amended.

66. Uttar Pradesh government allotted 5 acres of land in Ayodhya district to the

Sunni Central Waqf Board as directed by Supreme Court.

67. Uttarakhand cabinet approved 377 sqkm area for proposed eco-sensitive

zone (ESZ) for Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR). Proposal will now be forwarded to

Central Govt.

Persons

1. 60-year-old Mo O'Brien became first deaf person to row through Atlantic ocean by

finishing a 3,000-mile journey.

2. India's 12 year old Kaamya Karthikeyan became youngest girl to climb highest

peak in South America, Mt Aconcagua (6962 Metres).

3. NASA astronaut Christina Koch, who led first all-female spacewalk in 2019,

returned to earth after a record 328 days stay on International Space Station.

4. Noted actor Manoj Kumar felicitated by World Book of Records London with WBR

Golden Era of Bollywood honour for his contribution to Indian cinema.

5. Noted editor Sreekar Prasad entered Limca Book of Records for 'films edited in the

most number of languages' (17).

6. Obituaries (Feb 2020) :-

Jaswant Singh Kanwal - Noted Punjabi novelist.

Dalip Kaur Tiwana - Padma Shri awardee and Noted Punjabi novelist.

Daniel Arap Moi - Kenya’s longest serving President, serving 24 years.

Katsuya Nomura - Noted Japanese Baseball Player.

Wendell Rodricks - Noted Indian fashion designer and Padma Shri awardee.

Mary Higgins Clark - Noted US Author, known as Queen of Suspense.

Kirk Douglas - Noted American Actor.

Rabi Singh - Noted Odia poet.


Roger Kahn - Noted American Author

Giriraj Kishore - Noted Hindi litterateur and Padma Shri awardee.

Raju Bharatan - Noted cricket journalist and film historian

Anand R Kulkarni - Noted journalist

Katsuya Nomura - Noted Japanese Baseball Player.

Wendell Rodricks - Noted Indian fashion designer and Padma Shri awardee

Sonam Sherpa - Noted guitarist and founder of Music band Parikrama

Tapas pal - Bengali actor & former Trinamool Congress MP

Harry Greg - Northern Irish footballer

Larry Tesler - Noted American computer scientist, who introduced cut, copy

and paste commands

Kishori Ballal - Noted Kannada and Hindi actor.

M.S. Mani - Noted Journalist.

Mohammed Hosni Mubarak - Noted Egypt ruler who ruled over 30 years

Katherine Johnson - Noted American mathematician, who contributed greatly

to growth of NASA

World’s oldest man, Chitetsu Watanabe of Japan, passed away at 112 years age.

Now, Bob Weighton of UK (111 years) has became oldest person.

Pandit Sudhakar Chaturvedi - Noted Indian Vedic scholar and Indologist from

Karnataka. At claimed age of 122 years, he was reported as oldest Person

globally.

7. Persons Resigned / Retired (Feb 2020) –

American-Greek Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg resigned as Chief Economist of

World Bank.

American tennis player Abigail Spears has been handed a 22 month doping

violation ban.

Indian Cricketer Pragyan Ojha announced retirement from all forms of cricket

New Zealand's Ross Taylor became first cricketer to play 100 matches in all

three formats of Cricket

UK noted hockey player Alex Danson-Bennett announced her retirement

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad resigned. At 94 years of age, he

is World’s Oldest govt leader

Five-time Grand Slam winner Russian Female Tennis player Maria Sharapova

announced her retirement.

8. US President Donald Trump Visited India :-


He attended Namaste Trump event at Newly Built Motera cricket stadium in

gujarat. It is world's largest Cricket stadium with capacity to accommodate 1.10

lakh people. It is renamed as Sardar Patel Stadium.

Mr Trump visited Ahmedabad, Agra and New Delhi during his visit.

India and US signed defence deals worth $3 billion, including procurement of

24 MH-60 Romeo helicopters by India (2.6 Billion USD) and six AH-64E Apache

helicopters ($800 million).

2 MOUs were signed f0r co-operation in Mental Health and Safety of Medical

Products. A Letter of Cooperation signed between Indian Oil Corporation

Limited and ExxonMobil India LNG Limited.

US First Lady (President or President's Wife) Melania Trump attended a

‘Happiness Curriculum class at a government school in New Delhi.

9. Visits From India :-

Navy Chief Karambir Singh visited Myanmar.

Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal visited Bhutan, to

attend inaugural session of he Bhutan- India Start-Up Summit 2020

Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badalvisited Dubai (UAE), to attend

25th Gulfood 2020. It is world’s largest annual food, beverage and hospitality

exhibition.

10. Visits to India :-

Harry Theoharis, Minister for Tourism of Greece Visited India.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahendra Rajapaksa visited India.

Vietnam Vice-President Dang Thai Ngoc Thinh Visited India.

President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa visited India

Home Minister of Maldives, Sheikh Imran Abdulla Visited India

Myanmar President U Win Myint visited India. 10 MoUs in different sectors

were signed,

16th Session of Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) between India and

Australia held in New Delhi. Australia was represented by Simon Birmingham,

Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment.

Science


1. 2 new bird species found during Great Backyard Bird count, in UT of Ladakh. These

are Red Throated Thrush and Plumbeous Water Redstart, found for first time in

Ladakh Region.

2. IIT Madras researchers developed an AI technology to convert Brain signals of

Speech-Impaired Humans into simple Human Language English. This Might be

useful in several related applications.

3. As per ISRO's annual report, it will launch 10 Earth Observation Satellites in 2020-

21, including first Geo Imaging Satellite GISAT-1. Also, 3 communication and 2

navigation satellites are scheduled to be launched in 2020-21.

4. Astronomers at University of California (US) discovered an Ultramassive monster

galaxy dubbed as XMM-2599. This galaxy existed around 12 billion years ago, just

1.8 billion years after formation of universe.

5. Chinese Researchers identified molecular oxygen in a galaxy outside our Milky

Way, by analyzing light waves that reached Earth from Markarian 231, a galaxy

around 581 million light years away.

6. ICAR’s Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) developed cell culture Classical

Swine Fever vaccine. It will help save considerable number of rabbits that are

killed to produce Lapinised CSF (Classical Swine Fever), the current vaccine. The

new vaccine invented gives immunity for 2 years as compared to the previous

vaccines that provided immunity for 3 to 6 months.

7. Indian aerospace firm Ananth Technologies signed deals to build six foreign-owned

satellites in India, as first time a private firm is making satellites for global

customers using India’s low-cost base. Foreign satellites will be weighing 50 - 250

kg.

8. NASA launched Solar Orbiter spacecraft, in association with European Space

Agency (ESA). It is expected to send back first photos of Sun's poles. It could help

scientists pinpoint origins of space weather and track eruptions on sun in near-

real time.

9. Researchers from IIT Hyderabad claimed finding found a molecule called “AIM-

4”that can help in the treatment of rare neurodegenerative disease called

“Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis” (ALS) known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease”. ALS is a

neurodegenerative disorder that severely affects voluntary movement of muscles.

10. Scientists from Rochester Institute of Technology (US) discovered nearest-

known ‘baby giant planet’ which is named as “2MASS 1155-7919”. It lies only

about 330 light years from our solar system.


11. University of Calgary (Canada) researchers discovered 79-million-year-old

dinosaur fossils at Alberta (Canada), belonging to a new species of Tyrannosaur

named as Thanatotheristes degrootorum Tyrannosaurs were one of the largest

meat-eating dinosaurs.

12. World’s largest species of cave fish measuring over 40cm found inside a

remote cave in Meghalaya’s Jaintia Hills. The fish, related to the Golden Mahseer

but has no eyes and is white due to lack of melanin pigmentation, was found in in

February 2019.

Sports

1. 2020 Australian Open Tennis (Melbourne, 108th edition) Winners :-

Men's Singles - Novak Djokovic (Serbia). He defeated Dominic Thiem (Austria).

It was 8th Australian Open title for Novak Djokovic, and his 17th Grand slam

title overall.

Women's Singles - Sofia Kenin (US). She defeated Garbiñe Muguruza (Spain). It

was First Grand slam title for Sofia Kenin.

Men's Doubles - Rajeev Ram (US) AND Joe Salisbury (UK).

Women's Doubles - Tímea Babos (Hungary) AND Kristina Mladenovic (France)

Mixed Doubles - Barbora Krejčíková (Czech Republic) AND Nikola Mektić

(Croatia)

Boys' Singles - Harold Mayot (France)

Girls' Singles - Victoria Jiménez Kasintseva (Andorra)

2. 2020 Asian Wrestling Championships Held in New Delhi :-

274 competitors from 23 nations competed. China was barred due to

coronavirus outbreak. North Korea and Turkmenistan were also unable to

participate.

Champions - Freestyle (Iran), Greco-Roman (Iran), Women (Japan)

Indian Medalists :-

Gold :-

Ravi Kumar Dahiya (Men's 57 kg freestyle)

Sunil Kumar (87 kg Men's Greco-Roman)

Pinki (55 kg women's Freestyle)

Sarita Mor (59 kg women's Freestyle)


Divya Kakran (68 kg women's Freestyle)

Silver :-

Sakshi Malik (65 kg women's Freestyle)

Nirmala Devi (50 kg women's Freestyle)

Satyawart Kadian (97 kg men's Freestyle)

Gourav Baliyan (79 kg men's Freestyle)

Jitender Kumar (74 kg men's Freestyle)

Bajrang Punia (65 kg men's Freestyle)

3. 2020 Badminton Asia Team Championships (Manila, Philippines) –

Men's Teams - Indonesia (Beating Malaysia)

Women's Teams - Japan (Beating South Korea)

Indian men's team won Bronze at the event.

4. 2020 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup (South Africa) :-

Bangladesh won the title, as their 1st ICC U-19 World Cup. Bangladesh

Defeated India in Final.

Player of the series was India's Yashasvi Jaiswal, who also scored Most runs

Next U-19 will be hosted by West Indies, in 2022.

5. Bengaluru Raptors won Premier Badminton League (PBL) title 2020 for the 2nd

time in a row, defeating North Eastern Warriors.

6. FC Goa became first Indian club to qualify for Asian Football Confederation (AFC)

Champions League group stage.

7. Haryana Government will provide Rs 6 crores to gold medal winners at Olympic

Games, only for players representing Haryana.

8. Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh defeated Harutyun Barseghyan of France to win

34th Cannes Open Chess in France.

9. Indian boxers has clichéd 5 medals (4 silver, 1 Bronze) at the 64th “Bocskai Istvan

Memorial, in Debracen (Hungary):-

Silver -Gaurav Chauhan (91 kg), Jyoti Gulia (51 kg), Manisha (57 kg), PL Prasad

(52 kg)

Bronze - Sachin (57 kg)

10. Indian table tennis players Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran

won silver in men’s doubles event at ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open.

11. India’s Koneru Humpy won Cairns Cup chess tournament held at St.Louis (US).

12. International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced India as hosts for 16 team FIH

Junior Men’s World Cup 2021. South Africa will host women’s edition.


13. National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) banned Indian weightlifter Ramshad AR

for 2 years. Also, wrestler Ravinder Kumar was banned for 4-years.

14. Noted Cricketer and BCCI President Sourav Ganguly will be Goodwill

Ambassador of Indian contingent at 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

15. India's junior Boxers won 14 Medals (with 6 Golds), at Golden Girl Championship

in Boras (Sweden)

16. Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi Palaniswami inaugurated Salem Cricket Foundation

(SCF) cricket ground in Valapadi (Salem).

17. National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) banned national javelin thrower Amit

Dahiya for four years, for a disciplinary violation.

18. India won 11 medals at BWF Brazil Para Badminton International in Sao Paulo,

With 4 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze.

19. 2020 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup will be hosted by India in 5 cities, in

November 2020. Cities are Ahmedabad Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Kolkata and Navi

Mumbai. Finals will be held in Navi Mumbai. Official slogan of tournament is Kick

Off the Dream..

20. India will host Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup in 2022.

All India Football Federation (AIFF) has also been allotted Asian Football

Confederation's Grassroots Charter Bronze Level membership, which will allow

AIFF to promote its basic-level events as AFC recognised.

21. India will host Commonwealth shooting and archery championships in January

2022

22. International Cricket Council (ICC) banned Oman player Al Balushi from all

formats of cricket for 7 years, for match fixing charges.

23. Russia will be first country to host new format of AIBA Team World Cup in 2020,

with participation of Best national teams globally.

24. Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa won 77th Senior National squash

championships in Men’s and women’s category respectively in Chennai.

appointments - quickdiw sarkarijobalerts.com...2020/02/03 · 6. atul kumar gupta has been...

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